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Worst mistakes you made resulting in fish death...


Funkytown

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I thought I'd start an amusingly morbid (morbidly amusing?) thread.

[Edit]

What is the worst mistake you've ever made that resulted in fish death as a result of a temporary intelligence-deficit? I'll start...

When I was 8 or 9, I had a tropical tank with some guppies, a few neons, a small silver shark, and some sort of cory. This was some 20 years ago now (OMG! 20?), in the days before heaters with tempurature readings.

You can see where this is going...

One day I came home to discover the tank "dangerously" cold by a couple degrees. The fish were fine, of course, but eight-year-old panic is only quelled by over-reaction, so I cranked the heat up and promptly forgot about it.

Upon return to my room, I was greeted by a fishy odour and wafts of steam rising off the fish tank like a death-cloud. I promptly flushed the fish and told my parents that they all died "mysteriously". :roll:

I don't think I ever told them what really happened.

Actually, that lie has been bottled up for so long, it feels so good to let it out! This thread is probably a subconcious cry of apology to Sharky and his friends! :wink:

Your turn.

Brian

(I actually did tell my mom that story just last month, but it makes a better story if I say I didn't. Incidently, she didn't remember at all.... :) )

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It's funny how something you have bottled up for so long and riddled through with guilt can be forgotten by others affected. :D

About the only thing I have done (apart from having a heaterstat stick and kill my scheelis but that was a faulty heater) is poured a few baby bristlenoses down the sink not realising they had got into the filter. I always check now.

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They just liberated themselves, that's all. I'm sure they're doing quite well for themselves now...

Didn't you read that article in the newspaper? They've been discovered living in the sewers, happy and healthy. Can't say the same about the worker who was attacked by the 2 foot long giant sewer bristlenoses, though...

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I made my worst mistake by today. I have a 1000l fish tank with 400 baby gold fish fry. I had a 65mm hose connected to a butterfly valve at the bottom. this whole tank was set up only 1 week ago. I didn't cycle the tank as I didn't think I had to being such a light load (and haven't had any trouble yet). I found about 8 dead the other day and some more the day after so I dont some tests 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 2deg gh 2 deg kh 5.0ph so without panicing aver the course of the day I got the water adjusted to around 6 maybe a little higher. I done a test that night to see where it was and it came out around 0, 0, 0, 6, 5, 6 - 6.5 This looked pretty good fish swimming around happily. I came in the next morning and ph had dropped off again so off to get more baking soda to fix it again, got it fixed and next morning that same thing happend. while I was cleaning out my kitten kitty litter my friend said to me "I dare you to take a drink" (I was using the fire hose at the time) I asked him what the big deal was and apperently they run fire hoses through a sulpher filter to make the water denser and it is actually poisones to drink. So in a panic I got the garden hose turned it on in the tank and filled it to the top (about 1200l) then oppened the butterfly at the bottom to drain about 400l out (the hose was still going) I didn't open it the whole way as I wanted to go do some work so left it over time) I came back all was fine until I went outside adn saw half the fry had been sucked out and died a horrable death under the napier sun. I now have about 50-100 left and have lernt my lesson (I hope)

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...apperently they run fire hoses through a sulpher filter to make the water denser and it is actually poisones to drink....

You were using the fire hose to fill your tank? I assume the sulphur filter was making the water acidic...? H2SO4?

Interesting. Tough lesson though. Sorry to hear it. Still, could've been worse... :o

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Apparently when I was 3 or 4, I decided to clean my mums tropical tank (it probably looked dirty :roll: ) I dropped a cake of sunlight soap in with her angels and other fish.

Mum came in to see soapy bubbles floating on the top of the water, Mum said that she can't remember any dying :-? .

She laughed when I said I was starting a tropical tank up :wink:

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Ok, I confess. I'm a killer.

My fishroom runs with a water circulation system, trickle filter, sump etc.

Being the smart guy I am I decided to put an overflow in the sump, connected to the drain. For a water change all I need to do is connect a hose to the tap, run it to the sump and turn the tap on. After about 5-10 minutes I calculated I should have changed about 10-20%. Works great!

One Monday not too long ago my wife complained about hearing water running and that had been liked that since Saturday.(She could have told me earlier :roll: ).

You guessed it. I forgot to turn the tap off and was 'too busy' to check all weekend. Tanks where all about 10 oC with a full dose of chlorine and a lot off dead fish. :-(

This was worse than the flooding caused by a similar mistake a few years ago.

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once upon a time I had a nice little pantadon butterfly fish however I must have been a bit distracted when i was cleaning out the tank one day- my plants were growing prolifically so I was thinning them out- especially the floating indian fern- he used to hide amongst the fern. I think i scooped him out and chucked him out with the plants in the bin! he was never seen again.

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If you ask me nicely I might take some off your hands next weekend Ira. I still haven't decided what to put in my 4ft and it is rather empty. It has 2 or 3 gouramis in it now from the Napier Show weekend. Don't think they are yours though.

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Not long after we got into the hobby, the first fish we ever tried to breed were siamese fighters. we had 2 males and 2 females and put them on each side of a divided 2 foot and dropped the water level. the siamese males forgot about the females and spent the whole time displaying at each other. we mucked around for a while trying to block their view of each other, but ended up leaving them in the tank with 4 inches of water for too long and had an ammonia spike. I reacted by filling the tank up to about 1.5 Cm from the top of the divider, and during the night one of the males jumped over into the other side and the next morning I had one dead male and one bald male, who had to be put down.

The 2nd dumb mistake we made, was we cleared out our discus tank, and sent the discus off to live with a friend. the discus tank had a peat bottom, and we decided that it was about the right PH for breeding neons. my wife and I discussed turning the temperature down, and both assumed the other was going to do it.

When we introduced our nicely fattened and prepared mature neons, that we had spent 4 months growing up and getting ready to breed from, they all, bar 2 males were found dead the next morning.

our third dumb mistake, was when we got 10 baby convicts given to us. they wew only about 3/4 cm when we got them and so we dropped them in the community tank, and completely forgot about them. a few weeks later we began to get a series of seemingly unexplaiable deaths, and it wasn't until we were examining our tank closely and discovered our forgotten convicts, who were still only 1 1/2 cm long, were knocking off fish 3 and 4 times their size, so we quickly found them a new home.

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my first disaster was my first tank knowing nothing much about fish except they needed age water. I brought my brand new tank home with new fish as well which were being added to 3 other golds which were my daughters which she had keep in a so called fish tank more of a box really.

knowing nothing about cycling and believing what i was told that my tank would be find maybe a bit understocked i was told my tank could hold up to 9 fish hmm only 215litres boy dumb arent i you guess it ammonia spike

back to shop i go to be told they sound like they had finrot more meds the results my daughters in tears and myself feeling like i was the worst person in the world because i killed all 6 fish. thankfully found this site and went to organisms here in christchurch who were great puting up with constant questions. I now have a great pact off plant wrecking finger nibbling goldies

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The only mistake I can recall was about 8 years ago. I was vacuming the stones in my cold water tank. I looked away from the tank for just one second and then I felt a small tug on the vacume. When I looked back I saw that that I had just suck one of the eyes of a black moore. The fish died about 2 days later.

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well not really death but more a funnny story.

I was doin some cleaning in my oscar tank so the lid was off, and my flat mates curious kitty decided to have a look in, needless to say kitty dont go near the oscar tank anymore! my XXL male had a good little suck on her paw to say the least. :D

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We caught our neighbors cat fishing in our livebearer tank the other day. the tank only has a half lid and I havent got around to redoing lid. I have about 10 or so tanks that need some attention with silicone and glass.

I am going to buy a collar and bell today, and ask the neighbor if she would be willing to put it on her cat, so I will know if it comes into the house.

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